Friday, January 20, 2012

Remember how I tried to do Bootsnall's November blog challenge? One prompt every day about my travels in the past year. Well even if you don't remember (which seems likely to me, I don't think I'm that important to warrant that spot in your memory), I'm going to be trying their new challenge - One propt a week for the WHOLE YEAR. I didn't complete the November challenge, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try at this one - I've never been the type who blogs daily, but weekly I should be able to do (maybe).

Here's the first prompt:This year, let’s not just resolve to “travel more” let’s resolve to have amazing indie travel experiences. Resolve to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Resolve to walk on a glacier in Patagonia. Resolve to eat your weight in cheese in Provence. Resolve to dance the tango in Buenos Aires. Resolve to seek out experiences that immerse you into a new culture, challenge your beliefs, push your comfort

To be honest, I forgot to make a New Year's resolution... whoops. Reading this prompt (which I originally did much closer to new year's, completely spacing on actually blogging about it) made me think, though: What do I want from 2012?

To be honest, I'm pretty sure it won't be quite as memorable as 2011, but taking part in the Arab spring, being on five continents by mid-February, and making friends (and family) I'll never forget is not something that I can realistically expect out of every year. Nor did I expect it at this point last year, haggling over a carpet in Morocco and reading about the Tunisian protests in the news, never expecting that my return to Cairo would coincide with the world as I knew it being flipped on its head.

But that was last year. For 2012, I'm gonna try my best to not expect anything. Yes, I am making plans. Plans to go to Mardi Gras to visit my university one last time and reunite with my best friend from Egypt, who lives school in Seattle. Plans to teach English in Korea. Plans to save up some money and figure out my next step in life. But that is as far as I will let my expectations go.

Broadly, my expectations for an amazing, international year improving my language skills were fulfilled in 2012, but if evacuation and continent-hopping taught me anything, it's that things not going as expected does not mean things going badly.

So, for 2012, I resolve to go into all of my plan-making with an open mind, to be as flexible as possible, and to roll with the punches.